I generally think Arsenal fans have overrated his qualities. He’s a good defender but he’s error prone and is guilty of being responsible for us conceding a lot of really soft goals. He’s particularly weak dealing with crosses as his positioning is often awkward.

I’d much rather we signed a new partner for Mustafi and worked on something new.

If he’d spent 4 years playing in a 3 with Chiellini and Barzagli I can’t help thinking he’d probably be mentioned in a list like “XYZ Arsenal defender is not as good as Barzagli, Koscielny, Chiellini, Godin…”.

Laurent Koscielny has revealed he will require daily treatment on an Achilles injury for the rest of his career. The 31-year-old was diagnosed with chronic tendinitis in both feet by the French Football Federation during an international break in...

“I have some problems,” he said. “Now it is better. I know it is a difficult injury because you need to work every day on this. Every morning I have my treatment for my Achilles and I know I need to do this to the end of my career.

“Now, every day I do this and it is OK but sometimes with all the games we play every three days, it is difficult and I need to have a rest to recover well for my Achilles. That’s why last time I was injured but now it is OK with this.

“It is not difficult but you need to be careful with this because if you stop doing your own exercise programme for one or two weeks, the problem will come back. I know now I need to do this every day to be fit for my team.

“I am prepared to miss Sunderland to be fit for the last two games of this season. Sometimes it is better to miss one game to be fit for the others.”

I’m happy with Mustafi holding and Monreal at CB against Sunderland and Everton if it means he can be ready for Chelsea.

But yeah, I think it’s clear that we need to phase Koscielny into a Ledley King role for us then where he’ll be on the bench a lot but play for us in the big and important games when he’s needed. Mustafi will need to step up.

We were always going to have to start planning for a future without Kosc sooner or later since he’s 31 now anyway, but it’s a shame to hear how bad it’s gotten for him.

Like you said Holding looks very good, Mustafi was brilliant earlier in the season and his dip in form came along with everyone else’s so I’m not too worried. Chambers seems to have done well at Boro too, and with Kosc and Monreal as CB back up I think we’re in a strong position there.